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The Ebon Ward: Episode 4
"There is nothing innately immoral about blowing off old friends." - Twitch description for the 4th episode of Ebon Ward Episode Synopsis Entering Grabby's Reach, the party gathers information on the Underhand, meets a very cursed man and his family, and assists a bounty hunter in taking down his mark. Summary The party arrives at Grabby's Reach and splits up into groups of Suino/Dia, Maze/Gnash, and Jasper. Maze's group goes to the Naughty Lady brothel to meet with Bevus, a former acquaintance who is a member of the Underhand. After a very brief discussion, Maze announces that if Bevus won't give back their stuff then he is his enemy, declares war, and leaves. Suino's group goes to the Verger mansion and meets Eugene Verger, an eccentric nobleman who is afflicted with various ominous curses as a result of years studying cursed items. They are introduced to Eugene's wife Matilda and daughter Evelyn and their servants Castien and Heiqen. After a dinner with Verger and three of the local people from town, the two of them regroup with Maze and Gnash and go to the medical hut where Evelyn and her brother Sebastian work. Meanwhile, Jasper has been scouting around town and hassling the news-crier, Dobias Teeterman, before encountering Archer Stevenson (the bandit who Maze allowed to live in the previous session), and insisting on taking him to the medical hut as well. The party snoops around the medical hut and meets Sebastian Verger. Sebastian explains that he is working on new alchemical approaches to medicine, such as delivering doses in pill form, and that he has an out-of-town source for ingredients since he does not trust the quality of the ingredients sold in Grabby's Reach. When the topic of the Underhand is raised as another source of ingredients, Sebastian explains that he has been paying protection money to the Underhand on the behalf of the Vergers. Travelling through town, they meet a mute bounty hunter named Vaasko who enlists their help in taking down a bounty named "Orion Creed" - thankful to have found a group who knows sign-language. The group returns to the Naughty Lady with Vaasko and learn from Bevus about how Creed has recently caused dissent within the Underhand. Apparently, Creed recently tried to steal from the Vergers in direct violation of the protection racket scheme laid out by the leader of this branch of the Underhand, known as "Masquerade". While Dia and Suino stay with Bevus for a while to discuss a werewolf problem in the town of Inbetween, the rest of the group heads upstairs to confront Creed. A fight breaks out with Creed - a giant of a man who seems to display some kind of superhuman strength. Vaasko reveals himself to be a competent gunslinger and alchemist, Dia bursts up from the floor as a gargoyle, and the party spends half of the fight feared and the other half missing their attacks. The group finally subdues Creed and he reveals a few more details about the Underhand after a bit of light torture. Creed then gives a confused account of recently falling afoul of a mysterious lady in red (memories of chains and fire and pain), before finding himself buried alive just outside of the town graveyard earlier this day. An examination of Creed's current state indicates that he has recently been under the effects of a memory modifying potion. Now having some leverage and with Vaasko as backup, the party strikes a deal with Bevus that they will bring him a platinum mask belonging to Verger in return for Masquerade providing them access to the Underhand's secret moving vault where they can get their stolen materials back. Vaasko departs with Creed to collect his bounty in Inbetween. It is getting late and the party realizes that they need somewhere to stay for the evening, but they aren't too keen on getting rooms at the brothel. They decide to leave their options open and head off to investigate Grabby Graveyard. Suino uses scent and other tracking skills to discover the location where Creed was buried. Here the party finds a shovel that carries a familiar scent (though not currently identifiable), and three sets to footprint: Creed's fresh prints leading to town, a smaller set of prints following Creed, and a week-old set of stilletto heel prints leading in the direction of the Verger estate. Appearances * Ebon Ward Party (Maze, Suino, Jasper, Dia, Gnash) * Bevus (first appearance on stream) * Heiqen (first appearance) * Castien (first appearance) * Eugene Verger (first appearance) * Matilda Verger (first appearance) * Evelyn Verger (first appearance) * Sebastian Verger (first appearance) * Vaasko (first appearance) * Orion Creed (first appearance) Notes & trivia * According to the local news, the Keepers were recently in Grabby's Reach. * The name "Vaasko" was already known to the party before meeting him, as he was mentioned in a black book ledger that they had found in Broken Wheel during one of the unrecorded sessions. Vaasko also seems well known to Bevus, who considers him a likeable guy. * Vaasko's gun is described as a massive solid silver double-barreled shotgun, where the barrels are arranged vertically. * The Masquerade showed up 8 years ago and worked his way into leadership of the Underhand by "disappearing" anyone who objected. * The werewolf in Inbetween is noted to be unusual in that it is a big white wolf (more common to the north), that it only targets locals, and that it doesn't cause injury directly - only through collateral damage from carriages being overturned and the like. * The bounty poster for Creed that Vaasko shows the party indicates that he is wanted captured alive, for 5000 gold. Category:Ebon Ward Category:Ebon Ward Episodes